DEVElOPMENT Exhaust Aftertreatment

SCR-only Concept for

Heavy-duty Euro VI Applications
To meet Euro VI emission targets for heavy-duty applications, truck manufacturers concentrate on Exhaust
Gas Recirculation (EGR) and its combination with urea-based Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR). TNO
developed a concept that opens the route for an alternative solution which relies on SCR as the main
technology for NOx abatement. This concept offers potential fuel benefits in combination with low impact on
engine design and cooling equipment. Together with Haldor Topsøe, Yara and Grundfos, TNO examined the
achievable NOx emission reduction on an engine dynamometer.

58 MTZ 09I2009 Volume 70

1 Introduction used to partly compensate for the offset The Authors
in PM emission due to the increased EGR
Heavy-duty truck and engine manufac- rates, but still the PM reduction will be
turers face enormous challenges to find demanding for the DPF system. Ir. Robert Cloudt
a fuel and cost-efficient solution to meet With growing concerns about CO2 is Research Engineer at
the more and more stringent emission emission, energy security and rising fuel the Diesel Emission
targets. Euro VI NOx and Particulate Mat- prices, fuel efficiency becomes more and Control Group of TNO
ter (PM) limits of 0.4 and 0.01 g/kWh, re- more a crucial factor. In that respect, cur- Automotive in Helmond
spectively, have been set for the European rent data indicate that an EGR-only ap- (Netherlands).
Stationary Cycle (ESC) and European proach is not likely to be the favourable
Transient Cycle (ETC). Besides these tighten­ solution. The combination of EGR, DPF
ing emission limits, a new test cycle and SCR technology is a well accepted Prof. Dr. Ir. Rik Baert
(World Harmonized Test Cycle, WHTC) in choice for US 2010 applications, and will is Senior Research
combination with a cold start procedure be an evident option for Euro VI. This Scientist at the Diesel
will be introduced for Euro VI legislation. route towards post-2010 emission targets Emission Control Group
Based on correlation factors with ETC, can be seen as a further development of of TNO Auto­motive in
the actual WHTC emission targets will be US 2007 engine platforms through addi- Helmond (Netherlands).
specified in the near future. Irrespective tion of SCR deNOx technology. The added
of the test cycle and corresponding lim- SCR after treatment system opens oppor-
its, further developments of emission re- tunities to improve the fuel economy Dr. Ir. Frank Willems
duction technologies are required to with respect to US 2007 engines. The en- is Senior Research En-
meet these new requirements. gine can be calibrated for higher NOx and gineer and responsible
low fuel consumption, by changing the for Powertrain Control
EGR rate and fuel injection. In fact, there Developments at TNO
2 Possible Concepts for Euro VI is a possibility that – if sufficiently high Automotive in Helmond
conversion efficiency can be achieved (Netherlands).
Figure 1 summarizes possible routes to under all conditions – the best solution
meet European and US emission targets could be a SCR-only concept that does
for heavy-duty applications. With the in- not require EGR to lower raw NOx emis- Ing. Marco Vergouwe
troduction of Euro IV and Euro V emis- sions. Such a concept would combine an is Manager of the
sion legislation, the vast majority of truck inexpensive engine design with relative- Diesel Emission
manufacturers opted for urea-based SCR ly high fuel economy and relatively low Control Group of TNO
technology. To avoid the need for an ad- PM emissions. The latter will also reduce Automotive in Helmond
ditional reagent, a few manufacturers ap- the requirements for PM after treatment. (Netherlands).
plied EGR in combination with a Diesel In this article, the potential of this alter-
Particulate Filter (DPF). In North America, native SCR focused concept to meet Euro
all 2007 model year heavy-duty engines VI requirements is presented.
were equipped with EGR and DPF systems.
This choice was partly driven by concerns
about the availability of urea reagent for
SCR solutions.
To meet post-2010 emission targets,
some parties pursue the development of
an EGR-only engine solution. This con-
cept relies on high EGR rates: up to 40 %
at full load. To maintain the desired in-
cylinder air-fuel ratio, high boost pres-
sures are required that go beyond the
capabilities of single-stage turbo charg-
ing. The elevated boost and peak fire
pressures strongly affect the mechanical
design of the engine. Furthermore, the
high rates of exhaust gas diverted back to
the engine pose demanding requirements
on the cooling equipment: increased
cooling capacity and advanced EGR cool-
ing will be required [1]. High pressure
common rail fuel injection equipment is Figure 1: Overview of emission reduction technologies for heavy-duty applications in Europe and US

MTZ 09I2009 Volume 70 59

development Exhaust Aftertreatment

potentially to the levels required to meet

Euro VI limits.
The envisioned setup is portrayed in
Figure 3. Full body corrugated Vanadium
based catalysts are selected for the close-
coupled and downstream SCR catalyst.
This type of catalyst is chosen because of
its relatively low price, tolerance for fuel
quality and performance at low tempera-
ture and in absence of NO2. Due to costs
and packaging considerations, urea is
only dosed at a single point upstream of
the close-coupled SCR (cc-SCR) catalyst.
The ammonia slip of the close-coupled
SCR is used as reagent in the downstream
SCR catalyst. Reliable urea injection is
provided through a compact air assisted
Figure 2: Artist impression of close-coupled SCR concept dosing system. A particulate filter with
upstream Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC)
is installed for PM reduction. The filter is
regenerated by oxidation of injected fuel
on the DOC. It is noted that compared to
an EGR engine, engine-out PM emission
levels can be considerably lower. Conse-
quently, regeneration frequency, corre-
sponding fuel penalty and DPF precious
metal loading can be reduced. A DPF can
Figure 3: Proposed after treatment configuration based on close-coupled SCR catalyst concept be avoided when PM reduction can be ac-
complished by engine measures.

3 Close-coupled SCR Concept from rapid heat up and high tempera- 4 Experimental Demonstration
tures through placement close to the tur- of the Close-coupled SCR Concept
A feasible SCR-only Euro VI solution re- bine outlet. Figure 2 shows an artist im-
quires very high NOx conversion in the pression of this concept. A second larger The necessary NOx conversions required
order of 95 %. Furthermore, high NOx SCR catalyst is placed downstream and to meet Euro VI standards have been dem-
conversion is challenged by cold start will reduce the larger part of the NOx onstrated on a 6.7 litre 165 kW engine
and low temperature conditions in tran- emissions. with a standard non-optimized Euro IV
sient test cycles, like the WHTC. A con- The technology is essentially based on engine calibration. The engine-out NOx
cept that improves NOx conversion under a Euro IV SCR-based engine platform emissions are 10.9 g/kWh over a ETC cycle.
these conditions is the close-coupled SCR which is optimized for fuel economy. Ad- A 17.1 litre Vanadium SCR catalyst lowers
concept [2]. It is based on the addition of dition of a close-coupled SCR catalyst im- the NOx emission below the 3.5 g/kWh
a small volume SCR catalyst that benefits proves SCR NOx conversion efficiency, Euro IV level. A 5 litre close-coupled SCR
(cc-SCR) catalyst is added to the standard
Euro IV configuration to improve NOx
conversion.
A urea dosing strategy has been devel-
oped for the system with close-coupled
SCR catalyst. The new model-based con-
trol strategy relies on control of the total
ammonia storage of the integrated SCR
system, Figure 4. Ammonia storage con-
trol has proven to yield optimal trade-off
between NOx conversion and tailpipe
NH3 slip under steady-state and transient
conditions [3]. To estimate the ammonia
storage, an in-house developed SCR mod-
Figure 4: SCR ammonia storage control structure el is used that is capable of real-time im-

60 MTZ 09I2009 Volume 70

 1.2 g/kWh. The hot part of the WHTC test
is tested after a 10 minute soak period.
For this part of the test the cumulative
tailpipe NOx emission curve can be kept
virtually flat, culminating in 0.58 g/kWh.
It is worth mentioning that in these ex-
periments also a 0.40 g/kWh weighted
cold/hot WHTC cycle result could be ob-
tained. This resulted however in a too
high ammonia slip.
During the WHTC cycle, the urea con-
sumption was measured to be 8 % of the
fuel consumption on a volume basis. It
was found that the close-coupled catalyst
has little effect on the fuel consumption:
at the C100 ESC mode, the measured fuel
penalty corresponding to an increased
backpressure is less than 0.1 %.
Figure 5: WHTC SCR model fit Given the measured NOx conversion,
an engine-out NOx emission budget can
be set up for an SCR-only Euro VI solu-
tion. This emission budget is presented
plementation on an automotive type stream SCR catalyst. Figure 6 demonstrates in Table 1 for an ambitious scenario with
ECU. This model is first calibrated for the how the urea dosing is controlled to WHTC limits equal to ETC emission limits.
close-coupled and downstream SCR cata- track the temperature dependent NH3
lyst using a dedicated engine dynamo­ storage setpoint.
meter test procedure [4]. Figure 7 shows the resulting NOx con- 5 Discussion
Figure 5 illustrates the model fit for the version and temperature traces during
downstream SCR catalyst on the cold the cold start and hot WHTC cycle. Ther- The close-coupled SCR concept allows a
start WHTC cycle. The accuracy is well mal management has been applied to strategy with an engine optimized for fuel
suited for use in an ammonia storage improve close-coupled SCR heat up. In economy, whereas emission compliance
control strategy. The two SCR models the cold start WHTC the cc-SCR catalyst is completely realised through exhaust
running on the controller serve as a vir- reduces the NOx concentrations from gas after treatment. The engine-out NOx
tual sensor for on-line estimation of the 11.6 g/kWh to 3.8 g/kWh. The second SCR emission target level of about 7 g/kWh
NH3 storage on the cc-SCR and down- catalyst brings the NOx emission down to can be realized simply by retarding the
injection process. The corresponding en-
gine design is compact and straight-for-
ward and injection system and turbo
charging requirements are minimal. This
concept is compared with alternative
­Euro VI concepts for the important long
haul truck applications. These trucks typi-
cally have an engine with a displacement
in the order of 12 to13 litre and a maxi-
mum power rating of 370 kW The princi-
pal characteristics of the different con-
cepts are summarized in Table 2.
The second concept is similar to the
mainstream US 2010 configuration: a
DPF for PM reduction followed by a Zeo-
lite SCR system which together with EGR
ensures low NOx emission. The engine-
out NOx emissions is expected to be in the
range of 2.5 g/kWh. Experience [5] has
shown that such levels can be realized
with moderate rates of cooled EGR, vary-
ing from 15 % at full load until 30 % at
Figure 6: Demonstration of NH3 storage control lower loads. The corresponding engine is

MTZ 09I2009 Volume 70 61

development Exhaust Aftertreatment

Figure 7: more complex because of the added EGR

NOx reduc- system with its control valves and cooling
tion cold circuit. Because of the moderate EGR lev-
start and hot els, single-stage turbo charging suffices. A
WHTC Variable Geometry Turbocharger (VGT) is
used to control the EGR rate.
The third concept considered avoids
the use of NOx after treatment. The im-
plicit very low engine-out NOx levels are
achieved by a combination of high
amounts of cooled EGR and fuelling stra­
tegies that result in a large portion of the
injected fuel being mixed to lean air-fuel
ratio levels prior to the start of combus-
tion. This is typically realized by early
injection of (part of ) the fuel and by a
reduction in effective compression ratio.
At high engine loads, the compression
ratio can be further reduced through
Variable Valve Actuation (VVA) technol­
ogy. At the same time, overall air-fuel ra-
NOx tios should remain high enough to avoid
NOx cc-SCR SCR NOx
weight cycle excessive particulate formation. This re-
Engine-out reduction reduction tailpipe
result
quires very high boost pressures that go
Cold-start beyond the capacity of single-stage turbo-
7.4 g / kWh 67 % 68 % 0.78 g / kWh x 1 / 10 0.08 g / kWh charging. Intercooling and after-cooling
WHTC
is required to limit intake manifold and
Hot WHTC 7.4 g / kWh 70 % 84 % 0.36 g / kWh x 9 / 10 0.32 g / kWh compressor exit temperatures. This, and
the need to cool high EGR flows, consid-
0.40 g / kWh
Table 1: WHTC NOx emission budget erably increases the complexity of the
cooling system as well as the requested
cooling power.
Table 2: Principal characteristics of different Euro VI engine concepts for a 13 l 370 kW class engine

1 2 3
SCR-only SCR+EGR EGR-only
Two stage
Single stage,
Single stage Intercooled
Turbo charging Aftercooled
Air-to-air charge cooler Aftercooled
Variable turbo geometry
Variable turbo geometry
Valve timing Conventional Conventional Variable valve timing
Pump-line-nozzle Pump-line-nozzle Common rail
Fuel injection equipment
Low pressure (<2000 bar) High pressure (~2500 bar) High pressure (>2500 bar)
Piston Conventional Conventional New dedicated design
NOx aftertreatment (Vanadium) SCR + cc-SCR Zeolite SCR None
PM aftertreatment DPF DPF DPF
EGR [%] 0 15 – 30 40 – 60
Cooling power [kW] 220 260 410
Exhaust gas temperature 0 – –
Design complexity + 0 –
Engine Packaging + 0 –
Fuel quality sensitivity 0 – –
Service intervals, Oil degradation 0 – –
Low temperature exhaust Low temperature exhaust Transient control
Challenges
gas aftertreatment gas aftertreatment Cold start
Estimated additional costs to OEM* € 3300 € 5200 € 5400
*
) relative to Euro IV engine with EGR or SCR costs excluded
62 MTZ 09I2009 Volume 70
 nents). Initial total cost of ownership lev-
els would be higher especially for the
EGR-only concept, since it requires the
largest amount of new engine compo-
nents.

6 Conclusion

A new SCR-only approach for a heavy-

­duty Euro VI platform has been present-
ed. It relies on the application of a close-
coupled SCR catalyst. Based on the pre-
Figure 8: Predicted brake specific fuel consumption and urea consumption converted to fuel sented engine dynamometer results, it is
consumption on a cost equivalent basis (urea solution price assumed 45 % of of diesel price) concluded that this approach is a prom-
ising alternative to the currently studied
EGR-only and EGR+SCR based concepts.
The main benefits of this SCR-only solu-
Clearly, the EGR-only concept requires 7 g/kWh NOx level, thermal management tion are the low development costs, low
the highest additional development ef- and the added close-coupled SCR back- costs of ownership, and low CO2 emis-
fort (both from the engine manufacturer pressure can result in a mild fuel penalty sions. In terms of operating costs, the
and from its suppliers). In particular, this of 1 to 2 %. The urea consumption for SCR concept is competitive with the effi-
concept requires substantial efforts to such a platform will be 7 % of the fuel cient EGR+SCR strategy.
guarantee robust control solutions that consumption (on a volume basis). The
compensate for the sensitivity of the urea consumption of EGR+SCR concept
combustion process to fuel quality varia- is rather low due to the low engine-out References
tion and small changes in trapped gas NOx emission: 2 % of the fuel consump- [1] Edwards, S.; Eitel, J.; Pantow, E.; Lutz, R.;
pressure, temperature and composition. tion. Dreisbach, R.; Glensvig, M.: Emissionskonzepte
und Kühlsysteme für Euro 6 bei schweren Nutz­
To deal with these issues, the use of in- The comparison shows that the SCR-
fahrzeugen. In: MTZ 69 (2008), Nr. 9, P. 690-700
cylinder sensors for closed-loop combus- based concept is competitive to the [2] Cloudt, R.; Willems, F.; van der Heijden, P.: Cost and
tion control has been suggested. How­ EGR+SCR concept with respect to opera- Fuel Efficient SCR-only Solution for post-2010 HD
ever, it is not expected that this sensor tion costs. Of course, the results of the Emission Standards. SAE paper 2009-01-0915
technology will be applied in the first comparison are dependent on the urea [3] Willems, F.; Cloudt, R.; van den Eijnden, E.; van
generation of Euro VI compliant engines. – diesel price ratio. Conservative esti- Genderen, M.; Verbeek, R.; de Jager, B.; Boomsma,
W.; van den Heuvel, I.: Is closed-loop SCR control
In terms of complexity and development mates of the additional costs to the en-
required to meet future emission targets? SAE
effort, the SCR-based concept clearly gine manu­facturer are presented in Ta- ­paper 2007-01-1574
comes out best, closely followed by the ble 2. These estimates are based confi- [4] Van den Eijnden, E.; Cloudt, R.; Willems, F.; van
SCR+EGR concept. dential information and discussions der Heijden, P.: Automated model fit tools for SCR
Ultimately, the total cost of ownership with suppliers and engine manufactur- control and OBD development. SAE paper 2009-
will decide which concept will be most ers. These costs are relative to Euro IV en- 01-1285
[5] Baert, R.; Beckman, D.; Veen, A.: Efficient EGR
successful. Figure 8 shows a fuel and urea gine platform with costs of EGR or SCR
technology for future HD Diesel engine emission
consumption comparison for the three systems excluded. The SCR based concept targets. SAE paper 1999-01-0837
concepts. A Euro IV SCR-type engine with prevails when it comes to base engine [6] Gense, N.; Riemersma, I.; Such, C.; Ntziachristos,
a brake specific fuel consumption of and development costs, and CO2 emis- L.: Euro VI technologies and costs for Heavy Duty
198 g/kWh was taken as a reference. It is sion. This last aspect would become very vehicles – The expert panels summary of stake-
holders responses. TNO report 06.OR.PT.023.2/NG.
generally conceived that Euro VI emis- relevant should CO2 reduction incen-
(ec.europa.eu/environment/air/pdf/euro_6.pdf)
sion requirements cause a fuel penalty of tives, for instance in terms of tax bene-
3.5 to 5 % relative to the Euro IV baseline fits, be implemented in the near future
[6], based on an approach with a combi- in Europe.
nation of EGR and SCR technology. Based Taking into account development
on measured trade-offs, the fuel penalty costs, OEM profit margins and fleet own-
of the concept without NOx after treat- er capital expenditure costs, the SCR-only
ment is estimated on the order of 7 % concept comes out very well. It should be
relative to the Euro IV baseline. The SCR pointed out further that initially cost dif-
approach with close-coupled SCR re- ferences will be higher than mentioned
quires virtually no adjustments to the in Table 2 (the component prices men-
Euro IV engine. It is expected though, tioned assume large production num-
that the recalibration of the engine to a bers of the different new engine compo-

MTZ 09I2009 Volume 70 63